When Gammo Speaks…

In his latest column, baseball HOF sportswriter/NMTE man-crush Peter Gammons just barely scratches the surface of the runaway Rookie of the Year race (The Astros' Willy Tavares in the NL; either Nick Swisher or Huston Street of the A's in the AL) and focuses instead on which of today's young players will have the biggest career impact in the long term (including Red Sox stud rookie Jonathan "Applebong" Papelbon, who I had the distinct pleasure to see pitch on Sunday in Anaheim--more on that later). As usual, he is exceedingly comprehensive—speaking to "nearly 70 general managers, front office officials, scouts, managers and coaches"—and knowledgeable, not only breaking down the potential top ten stars of tomorrow but also filling in the blanks that (in his opinion) the insiders missed. This is classic Gammons: in a completely non-condescending way, he tosses in a throwaway line like:

"Braves third baseman Andy Marte, Detroit right-hander Justin Verlander, White Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy and Minnesota's Scott Baker might have shown up on more [ballots] had they not been sent back to the minors."

which might as well have just read:

"Most respondents forgot about the really good players that were around earlier but got sent down. Tsk Tsk."

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I love that shit! Gammons knows young players (as he has for years) better than their own bosses do! Give 'em hell, Pete!